Great drinkabilty, this one I could easily session on, although I'd prefer to move on after a few, because I'd think the flavor would bore me after a while. If less pricey or on cask, this one would work for me!

This is basically the same beer as the bluebird bitter (see reviews) but they tried to Americanize it with some late cascade additions. As with most European beers that flirt with more hops to create a more American inspired offering, this one just doesn't deliver that true hop character we Yanks have learned to love (at least the hop heads). This is fair play I suppose for all the American brewers who claim they have made a true British/ Belgian/ German/ Czech style, and also fall short.

Pours hazy light amber with a thick, foamy head that settles to a lasting thin cover. Not much lacing sticks to glass.

The smell is floral with some citrusy notes and a bready undertone.

The aroma doesn't really match the taste, mainly because the hops are muted under sweet malt. Odd mix of earthy, leafy hops and some citrus - lemon and orange blanketed under a sweet honeyish malt. It almost works to a degree, but doesn't. The hops are nearly lost to the malt, which itself doesn't lend much flavor to it. The carbonation that is not too noticeable in the appearance interferes and give it something of a seltzer-water aftertaste. It has a sweetish, fleeting finish.

The body thins even when warm, though there is something of a creaminess to it, but not enough to quite make up for the thin body and late carbonation feel.

It not undrinkable despite odd blend that is ironically helped by its mildness. But, it's nothing worthwile, IMO. It's a nice idea in theaory to blend British (Challenger?) and American (Mt. Hood?) hops with English malt, but it doesn't come through well in this case.

slightly hazed orange amber with a thin white head.
floral with a touch of lemon and honey, and this sort of weird sanitizer type aroma.
the taste has got light caramel and honey with a little tin. it's got some very light citrusy flavors as well as the floral aspects from the aroma. very little bitterness.
a little thin in the mouthwith moderate, but delicate carbonation.
good drinkability, but needs to commit to being a pale ale a little more to be good. it's got some potential though, a little tweaking would do this good.

Pours a hazy golden color with a large white head, which maintains retention throughout my entire drinking of this beer. "ENGLISH PALE ALE with AMERICAN AROMA HOPS" is what is stated on the bottle. Since I do not agree with calling this an english bitter i'm going to rate it according to the english pale ale style. It smells of light citrus hops(lemon zest as it warms a little), slightly fruity, and maybe some spice. Smells almost of a hefeweizen. Taste is not too different from the smell with the yeasty hefen flavors comming through and the american hops making a fight to balance. The malt flavor is nonexistant with no fruit showing. All in all the taste of the beer isn't bad though. It's dry and not cloying at all with biting active carbonation, citrus and low abv, making it very refreshing. Though it is not what i woiuld have in mind tryign to pull a EPA off the shelf it is ultimately decent and interesting.

Light fruit-like sweetness on the tongue but did not find it resembling a washed out mass-produced light beer. Has malty characteristics with a mouthfeel that is light and spritzy without coating the mouth. I thought this selection good for an early afternoon quaff.

This bitter pours out a pale copper color with a tall white head that laces and retains well. It also has a lot of visible carbonation.
The aroma is nothing special. It just has trace amounts of British style hops.
The flavor is not quite what I was expecting. It is citrusy and yeasty more than it is hopy. The yeast seems to be the dominant flavor.
Mouth feel is light to medium in body and generously carbonated.

This bitter just seems to be artificially sweet. Stick with the regular bluebird bitter.

Poured into an imperial pint glass a dull lightly hazed gold with a nice well retained white head that inches down very slowly leaving a creamy top.The addition of Mt. Hoods for aroma really show thru giving it a "light" citrusy character not robust like the bottle says but quite nice I also picked up a touch of mineral and biscuit.Sadly the citrusy character doesnt carry over into the flavor much somewhat dry with a mineral-like quality with that English herbal,"green" finish.Now this is a nice bitter the aromas were very nice and its very sessionable but I was hoping for a little more oomph in the end.

The pour is absolutely fantastic - the bottle conditioning gives this beer lots and lots of carbonation resulting in a huge sticky white head. Even with a gentle pour I had to give the beer time to settle down before filling the glass. The beer itself is a cloudy deep yellow - almost hefe like in appearance.

The nose is rather tangy and tart with strong hints of lemon masking most of the hop notes. There is a light floral note suggesting some interesting hopping.

While I'm all for experimenting and the thought of an English Pale Ale hopped with an "American" hop sounds intriguing, the result is far from satisfying. Primarily because the yeast hasn't produced much of an English PA flavoring - no fruit and no caramel notes at all. Instead the yeast has taken over and you've got a flavor much closer to a hefe or Belgian blonde with obvious banana, clove and lemon flavors dominating. There is some hopping in the background but the yeast completely dominates and takes this completely out of either EPA or APA style ranges.

The mouthfeel is good with the bottle conditioning adding plenty of carbonation and a smooth feel. No bittering from the hops because the sourness overwhelms.

Would I drink this again? Only if someone told me this was a bottling mistake at the brewery. From the coloration (no reds or ambers to be found) to the nose (no caramels) to the taste (no fruity esters) this is not in the least an English Pale Ale. The brewer doesn't seem to make anything hefeweizen like so it's probably not a bottling error - this just doesn't measure up to other English Pale Ales.

This beer pours a light copper color with a thick white head from a brown bottle. The smell is all citrusy hops. The taste is predominated by the American hops, there is an English beer lurking in the background however. I think its a real interesting idea to blend the English and American styles as they try to here. I'm not sure its exactly a fair match as the American hops tend to overwhelm. That said, I think this is actually a very good, very drinkable beer that is lighter than many heavily hopped American beers, making for a nice relatively light style. Recommended.

Well-bubbled amberish orange with an expansive head that occupies more of the glass than the beer does immediately after a gentle pour. The foam is yellowish ivory, is airily stiff and sports hundreds of large, gem-like bubbles on its upper surface. This is not the type of cap that will deposit much lasting lace, although a few skinny fingers are arrayed haphazardly along the nonic bulge.

I like the nose. The beer smells exactly like what it is, namely a pale ale brewed with English (Challenger) and American (Mt. Hood) hops. Hard to say which one is the most aromatic, it's a virtual dead heat. Slightly floral, moderately spicy and nicely citric fruity. There's also a suprising amount of diacetyl that leads to an enjoyable (in this case at least) buttered breadiness.

Not the flavor that I was expecting. There's something amiss here, though I'm not sure that I'll be able to identify what it is. The beer is insufficiently malted and lacks any sort of softness or creaminess whatsoever. In fact, it's borderline harsh in the mouth. The sweetness that builds throughout each mouthful and leaves a tacky residue on the finish tastes like added sugar, akin to lemonade, rather than malt.

Speaking of lemonade, the flavor is more citric sour than hoppy bitter. Looking at the listed ingredients for Bluebird Bitter versus this XB version, one realizes that they really aren't that dissimilar. The main differences are that the original uses Maris Otter malt and this beer uses Mt. Hood hops in addition to Challenger. Why then do the beers taste so different? I love BB for its subtle, drinkable charm. XB lacks those very qualities.

The mouthfeel is too thin to be enjoyable, even with the mildly sticky, mouthcoating finish. Some of the harshness fades as the boisterous bubbles begin to die, but the mouthfeel is still no great shakes.

Fans of Bluebird Bitter are hereby warned to avoid this beer. It isn't very good and it certainly isn't as advertised. Coniston's hope of a more highly hopped, American-style pale ale with English roots (a fantastic idea by the way) fails in the execution. Bluebird soars while Bluebird XB never gets off the ground.

The beer pours a hazy golden color with a towering white head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a mild malt scent that boasts of pale, light crystal, and bisquit malts along with a nice hoppy aroma that balances well. The taste is average. It has a very bitter flavor that dominates the taste. It's very citrousy. The malt content is way off balance and hardly enjoyable. It has a fruity yeast element that seems almost sour to the taste. The mouthfeel is average also. It is a medium bodied beer with a little too much carbonation. This seemed like a good beer at the first smell, but it quickly dropped in my opinion with the first taste. It's one and done for me.

I was surprised when I got this because it was golden orange and cloudy. I thought is was a hefe at first, but upon tasting, I was corrected. Smells of a crisp hop dryness and mandarin orange. The hops carry over in to the taste but it is backed by an odd Cheerios like grain. Not bad, but different. Mouth feel was heavy, but flat with smooth little bubbles.

This beer pours to a clear pale straw color with plenty of carbonation, resulting in a massive fluffy white head that refuses to go away.

The smell is interesting. A bit citric on top of the typical english bitter aroma of light spicy herbal hops and caramelized malt.

The taste is sweet and malty with an up front citric. Little to no taste in the finish. Very light and quaffable. Not as impressed by this as I was with the regular Bluebird. The American hops didn't mix well with the English style, and may have even been a bit skunked. Still a decent brew.

A soft, clear, golden-orange body, with light carbonation streams, topped by a fist full of tightly whipped foam which gently rose above the rim, and dented well in the pour.

The US hop experiment works here, as the nose is a surprising but pleasant burst of citrus, with a heap of orange leading the way. A very fresh, clean aroma.

Soft, sweet, malty start, which is quickly balanced off, too quickly. Could use a bit more of fine stiff upper lip British malt character. The US hops come around and push aside the base, and leave a slight off putting perfume texture along side the orange and other citruses in the finish. Really does not come together well.

Nice soft "session beer" mouthfeel, but might be just a tad too watery. Goes down ok, at least some of the sips.

A noble try at an international merger, but the sum doesn't equal the parts. Stick with the tradtional and classic Bluebird Bitter.

Hazy light amber with a big bottle-conditioned head that's a little tough to control in a glass. Not a lot of lace though, mostly dots (much better in the second pour, as it warms). Pleasant mild citrus aroma, not overwhelming but slightly astringent. Mouthfeel is lighter, carbonation plenty ample overall, maybe overdone. Granular senses, pithy with black pepper and asociated spices. Malt is fairly ordinary in impression. Despite the American aroma hops, the beer remains well-balanced and tight. Finishes with a bit of tar resin and some exaggerated fizziness in the aftertaste. Drinkable, but a bit unremarkable, not sure why Coniston needs an entry like this, but its an interesting idea.

This is an exceptional cask ale which I recall being spicy. I'll rereview this asap I hope. Great session ale. I'm having trouble remembering much other than I loved this beer last night. Very impressive ale that's on cask at Delaney's right now...

Amber beer with golden highlights, topped by a fine but foamy head. Midly orange citrus in the nose blends well with the very light touch of phenols that have always bothered me about this beer. Hints of toast and caramel. Toasty in the mouth, but overall quite light on the malt flavor and fullness of the body. Carbonation is way too fierce, same as with the original. Orangey citrus hop flavor is restrained. This is definitely a British beer not to be confused with a West Coast style hop bomb.

OK. That's roughly the smell I get from various Rogue, Dogfish Head and Stone beers. Piercing notes of iron and lemon with the sticky red resins one associates with the "other" herb. The rusty brass color and background aromas indicate nice, glazed malt sugars.
On the palate it is balanced. Easy, hardened shells of honey and caramel flavors contain leafy mints and lemon peel notes that rise on the finish. Cottony tannins and tangy acidity don't quite fill in a gap on the mid-palate. Where's the obnoxious malty sweetness and head-spinning alcohol? Oh yeah, it's a hybrid. This beer's English chromosomes require it to be very drinkable.